Seby Cordova is Sandia Casino’s newest millionaire, and that’s great news for all.
    A million dollars is a 1 followed by six zeroes. It’s the amount of bread few of us can expect to earn in a lifetime.
     Now for a while, let’s forget the bird-in-hand experience in which it’s better to get a cash payout on the spot than to have it meted out in monthly or yearly installments. Getting it in one chunk enables us to take care of our own investments, whereas if we get it in, say, 30 installments, we might not live that long.

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    If Las Vegas area Super Bowl fans are correct, things will be bleak for the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday, as people settle in for their yearly dose of football and meatball stew.

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    A friend with children in middle school called me recently and for an hour gave details of her kids being bullied on the playground and in her own difficulty in getting anybody to do anything about it.

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    One of the toughest challenges facing someone who wishes to express a strong opinion is in explaining how he or she came across the information to be complained about. For example, I once read an excoriation of Hustler Magazine.
     But first, let me explain that Hustler, the publication owned by Larry Flynt, is the world’s most obstreperous “adult” magazine What’s “obstreperous”? I don’t have a dictionary handy, but . . . it’s bad.

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    It’s a matter of considerable linguistic curiosity to me that the two words in the English language that properly address the influence the moon has on human (and animal) nature are “moonstruck” and “lunatic.”

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    The easiest New Year’s resolution to make and keep is one that you’ve gotten a head start on. Two of the things on my mind (and body) are money and pounds, respectively.
     A few weeks ago in this column I was happy to report that the number of credit cards in our household had dropped from something in the teens to just one. And the corresponding indebtedness is currently about one-fourth of what it was a year ago.

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    Two new year’s resolutions, made almost a year ago will expire in two days.
    One was to stop supporting credit card companies single-handedly. That resolution has come to a happy ending, our having reduced our debt to about one-fourth of what it was a year ago.
     The second resolution–made also by many of you–was to shed pounds. A little more than a year ago, a column I wrote gave details of my weight, which at the time would have made a sumo wrestler envious: 234 pounds.

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This season we attended three holiday programs featuring youngsters.
     Given the amount of time teachers have to slap their programs into place, it’s amazing how well everyone seems to perform.
     We could, of course, wonder why every child sings the same thing for every song. Variation would be nice, soloists, for example, and perhaps a few different carols.
     By necessity the selections were secular: no more “Away in a Manger,” or “Silent Night.” Instead, we got “Jingle Bells,” mega-doses of “Rudolph,” and “Frosty the Snowman.” This certainly is a secular season.

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    Walking has always been an important part of fitness. Years ago my three-and-a-half-mile walk to church was highlighted by being able to wave to people I knew.
     That was before every windshield got tinted. Strange, but caring friends and neighbors invariably slowed down to offer me a ride, when I didn’t need one. But the times when I was stranded, due to a flat tire or mechanical breakdown, people would just whiz by.
     Because of the chubbifying of America, doctors and other health care experts tout the benefits of activity, walking being one of them.

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    What can a person in my situation want for Christmas? Would you believe my letter to Santa will be a request for less mail?
     Let me explain:
     Nobody in the private sector could possibly receive more mail than my family. There was a time when we’d rush to the mailbox and sometimes receive a letter, an actual hand-written (or even typed or computer-generated) letter bearing a real signature.

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